Camera woes...

[silverhaze269]

I have a Casio Exilim Z60 camera, and while it’s taken some great photos for me, I’m finding I’m having some issues with it, and I was hoping you kind folks might be able to help me out.

The camera okay for what it is, but the ISO only goes to 400, and I can’t seem to find an option to manually change the shutter speed and aperture. It does have pre-programmed settings like “night mode” and “portrait mode”, but sometimes they don’t work properly.

I went on a cruise in the end of August, and I have some examples of photos I’ve taken that didn’t turn out for one reason or another. I usually stay pretty still when taking pictures, and I always have the image stabilization turned on, but I don’t know if that matters a whole lot or not. I have no idea why these pictures did not turn out, but any suggestions, or tips would be greatly appreciated. I want to have my pictures turn out better on my upcoming Disney trip, and I’m hoping I won’t have to spend $350 on a new camera.

 

[Code]

Unfortunately, that camera doesn't have true image stabilization, just "anti shake DSP" which is somewhat misleading because it just boosts the ISO to 800 and only if you have ISO set to auto. To get acceptable handheld results with a point and shoot camera in low light such as the first two shots, you'll really need a stable support. (Some, like a few Fuji models and other brands with real image stabilization, will do better than others... but it's still a stretch)

The last image is just a focus issue, it looks like it focused on the planter pot rather than the butterfly. When focusing on something small like that, you'll want to change the auto focus to focus on the center point rather than letting the camera decide, then half press the shutter to lock focus on your subject and recompose the shot if necessary before taking the picture. If you're very close to the subject and it won't focus close enough, turn on macro mode to enable closer focusing.

 

[ukcatfan]

Consider investing in a tripod. Even a tabletop one would help. As long as you are taking shots of subjects that are not moving, almost any digital camera should be capable. Just do not expect to get shots in POTC, HM, etc. For that, you would need to spend more like $600 at a minimum.

Kevin

 

[garate55]

The last photo all that went wrong is that the auto-focus on the camera focused on the pottery behind the butterfly.

For those, try to center the subject and press the button halfway to adjust the AF, then you can move the camera to offset the butterfly and try to take the picture. With a point and shoot you probably don't have settings for the AF balance, but that would help.